Head repair question, looking for some info

[mineralgrey01gt]

I got around to taking the heads off my car and one head looked fine, no blown gaskets or anything but the other head the #4 cylinder had some damage on where the spark plug hole is, no damage anywhere just on this part. It had detonated from a bad tune and this was the damage in the pic. Now is it possible to fix this? I really need to salvage these heads since I really don't want to lose a good set of ported heads lol

 

[rotor_powerd]

Hard to tell from the picture but is there a good bit of material gone? If so I wouldn't run it. If it's just surface pitting then it can be smoothed out and be fine.

 

[mineralgrey01gt]

Some material is gone. I'm sending them out to see if they are good, I'm assuming that might be able to be welded right?

 

[rotor_powerd]

I just zoomed in and it's burned through the valve seat and into the valve a bit too. You might find someone willing to try and weld it but I would just junk it. You don't want that coming apart later on down the road.

 

[mineralgrey01gt]

I looked at it again and it looked like the material was melted down to the valve but you are right it also looks like it burnt into it a little

 

[08mojo]

I don't see why that could not be fixed. Yes, they will have to add some material back and redo the valve-seat. Obviously, I am not a machinist, so I am curious to hear the outcome of the story.

 

[oldmodman]

You should be able to find an undamaged set of stock heads for (probably) less than it would cost to have your head welded up and re-machined.

But here is Total Engine Airflows web site. http://www.totalengineairflow.com/shop-services

 

[mineralgrey01gt]

The problem with just stock heads is they will not be ported as these are. I'm considering getting another set anyways to have spares. I talked to a shop and he said he should be able to weld it up and fix what needs to be for around $750 for both, they would flow test them replace all the stuff in it that needs to be replaced or replace what can be upgraded.

 

[Torch10th]

Hard to say on the result. There's fairly significant damage there. You're talking about adding and reshaping the aluminum there in the combustion chamber. If the welder is competent I think it could be fixed. If not though I would be afraid of that section failing again and taking a lot out with it at the same time.

What did the piston look like? I'd make 100% sure your issue was detonation vs preignition. If the thing had preignition going on, you may need to look deeper into the setup to figure out why.

 

[mineralgrey01gt]

Piston is in great shape, no pitting or anything wrong by any means. We checked out the cylinder walls, Piston, bottom end etc and all looked great

I found a guy my brother uses for their race engines and he said from the Pictures I sent him he said it could easily be fixed and he does excellent cylinder head work so I'm going to let him have at it

 

[Torch10th]

Piston is in great shape, no pitting or anything wrong by any means. We checked out the cylinder walls, Piston, bottom end etc and all looked great

I found a guy my brother uses for their race engines and he said from the Pictures I sent him he said it could easily be fixed and he does excellent cylinder head work so I'm going to let him have at it

Based on that assessment it's possible that head had a metallurgy issue in the first place and that it wasn't detonation. Usually if detonation is causing issues like that you'd find the crap pounded out of the bearings, pitting on the piston face, scuffed piston skirts etc.

 

[mineralgrey01gt]

Very very possible that's the issue, anxious for this guy to check them out

 

[CobraBob]

That's great that you found someone (competent) who is confident the damage can be repaired. I honestly was skeptical for the reasons Torch10th stated. Keep us posted.